Lessons Learned: How Acceptance, Vulnerability, Forgiveness, and Compassion Make Sense to Me

I love stories, and I have collected a few over the course of my life and career that resonates with me. I've worked in both the public and private sectors. I've also wandered into others as life may have it. Each chapter here intends to tell a story in an attempt to humanize the topic without offering a concrete solution; instead, I let readers draw their own conclusions and, hopefully, find the story useful. The lessons that I have learned over the years revolve around, how being vulnerable can be healthy for us; having compassion toward one another, and forgiving those who have wronged us are soft skills for everyday living.

Robert Ackerman earned his bachelor's degree from the college of Saint Rose. He has held several positions within the New York State Government and currently serves as the senior vice president and chief operating officer of a wireless infrastructure company. He is Married and has five children. J. Ibeh Agbanyim is a Harvard Kennedy School trained leadership development practitioner, best-selling author, public speaker, and organizational psychology consultant. He is the founder of Focused Vision Consulting, LLC, and has been a senior logistics associate at UPS for over twenty-two years. He holds a graduate degree in industrial-organizational psychology.